The Ugly Stepsister (2025) Dir: Emilie Kristine Blichfeldt

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This Norwegian dark comedy meets body horror film was written and directed by, and was the debut feature film of, Emilie Kristine Blichfeldt. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, and has quietly received a fair degree of acclaim from indie film lovers. The film was supposed to be a more unique take on the 'Cinderella' story, which intrigued me greatly, as did the apparent body horror aspects, which felt like a great way to infuse some horror into the classic tale.

I adored the costume design for the film, especially when it came time for the titular ball. Some of the dresses in the final third of the film in particular were unique, colourful, and oh-so-pretty. I loved how fantastical the film felt, despite its relatively low budget. A big reason why this film worked as well as it did was because of how believable the world was, even without a tonne of CGI and money thrown at it. If anything, the lack thereof may have worked in its favour.

The narrative was a unique and alternative take on the classic 'Cinderella' fairytale, depicting the desperate journey of one of the stepsisters, as opposed to the well-trodden path that is Cinderella's perspective. For the most part, I thought this was done in an interesting and compelling way, with the change in focus providing a unique framing for the 'Cinderella' story. I think there was some very slight pacing issues, but, that aside, I enjoyed the story a lot.

Lea Myren's leading portrayal of the so-called 'ugly stepsister' created both empathy and horror for her character - she was very good at allowing emotions to grow on her face, as well as showing the growing desperation her character felt. I really liked how Myren conveyed her character's unravelling towards the end of the film - it reminded me a little of Demi Moore's performance in 'The Substance'; a film which shared many of the same themes as this one.

Thea Sofie Loch Ness provided a very good opposite to Myren, both in terms of her character's visual aesthetic, and in terms of her actual performance. I thought that she conveyed her character's emotional development and journey quite nicely, through some solid body language. Ane Dahl Torp gave a very memorable performance, despite considerably less screentime than the two actresses I talked about before her. She was very well cast, and excelled thoroughly at producing some truly venomous facial expressions.

I would have loved to have seen even more of Flo Fagerli and Cecilia Forss, both of whom gave pretty commendable performances in their supporting roles. Fagerli in particular was underutilised, and really stole some of the scenes she was in. As far as other supporting cast members were concerned, it was the trio of Isac Calmroth, Malte Gårdinger, and Ralph Carlsson, whom I felt were most noteworthy.

Overall, I thought this was a very solid and unique horror, which took advantage of its unusual premise to give a different perspective to a a very familiar story. This is exactly what I want to see from independent cinema; creativity, care, and focus. This is definitely one of the hidden gems of 2025, and one I think all horror fans should definitely endeavour to see. I think it will end up being a very underrated film, but hopefully, it continues to find its audience in the future.